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Garden Settles Harassment Case for $11.5 Million

Three days before a federal judge was to hear testimony on Anucha Browne Sanders’s claim for compensatory damages against Madison Square Garden, the parties settled the sexual harassment case yesterday and ended all appeals.

In the settlement, the Garden agreed to pay her $11.5 million, including $4 million in legal fees, said a person with knowledge of the confidential agreement. That is $100,000 less than the punitive damages a jury awarded Browne Sanders in October. Before the settlement, she had been seeking an additional $9.6 million in compensatory damages.

The settlement potentially saved the Garden millions of dollars, but a judge also could have reduced the size of Browne Sanders’s punitive damages.

The Garden had staunchly refused to settle with Browne Sanders before the trial began in September in United States District Court in Lower Manhattan. The Garden instead opted to weather three weeks of frequently sordid testimony, none more so than that of Stephon Marbury’s sexual tryst in his truck with a team intern.

But in a statement, the Garden said that “at the strong request” of N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern “and in the interest of focusing on basketball, we can all agree that it is time for us to move on and put this issue behind us.”

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In October, a jury found in favor of Anucha Browne Sanders, above, in her lawsuit against Madison Square Garden and Isiah Thomas.Credit
Daniel Berry/Bloomberg News

Stern was unavailable to comment on his role in pressing the Garden to settle.

Stern has been coy about whether he has the power to punish the Garden over the sexual harassment case or to take action to diminish the powers of James L. Dolan, the Garden’s chairman.

But Stern has voiced concern, even scorn, about the verdict. Browne Sanders, a former senior marketing executive for the Knicks, accused Coach Isiah Thomas of verbally abusing her and of making unwanted advances. She was fired by Dolan, whom she accused of retaliation for making her accusations against Thomas. Dolan and the Garden, but not Thomas, were ordered by the jury to pay punitive damages.

On Oct. 5, Stern told reporters in Istanbul: “I can assure the public that sexual harassment is not acceptable in the N.B.A. workplace.”

On Oct. 29, he offered a tart response when asked by ESPN what the Browne Sanders case said about the state of the Knicks. “It demonstrates that they’re not a model of intelligent management,” he said. “There were many checkpoints along the way where more decisive action would have eliminated this issue.”

Despite agreeing to settle with Browne Sanders, the Garden and Thomas remained defiant about the jury’s verdict against them.

“The outcome was a travesty of justice,” the Garden said in a statement.

“As I’ve said before, I am completely innocent,” Thomas told reporters before the Knicks’ game against Dallas last night. “This decision doesn’t change that. However, it’s in the best interest of Madison Square Garden to move forward, and I fully support it.”

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Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas Monday continued to maintain his innocence in the case.Credit
Mike Segar/Reuters

Before Thomas spoke, Jonathan Supranowitz, the Knicks’ vice president of public relations, told reporters that Thomas would not take questions about the settlement and that he would cut off any questions about it.

Browne Sanders said in a statement that she was “extremely pleased” with the settlement. She added, “It is my hope that all women will be able to work in an environment that is free of discrimination and harassment, and that any woman who stands up for her rights will be taken seriously by her employer rather than retaliated against.”

Browne Sanders is the senior associate athletic director for marketing at the University at Buffalo. She declined a request to elaborate on her statement.

The Garden’s decision to settle in advance of Thursday’s hearing before Judge Gerard E. Lynch “puts a finality to the case and they don’t have to go through appeals, which are very costly,” said Dona Kahn, an employment litigator who is of counsel to Anderson, Kill & Olick. If the hearing proceeded, she added, the Garden “would be on trial again and it would be all over the newspapers. She’d testify about how awful life was and how the harassment affected her.”

The settlement prevents the Garden, Thomas and Dolan from appealing the case and precludes Browne Sanders’s pursuit of punitive damages against Thomas. A mistrial was declared on that count during the trial, and a new one could have been held on whether Thomas should pay Browne Sanders damages, with evidence presented again.

The Garden faces more legal trouble. Another lawsuit, filed in 2004 by a former Rangers ice skating cheerleader, Courtney Prince, alleges sexual harassment. Two former security supervisors, both black women, are expected to file a suit alleging sexual and racial discrimination.